Veterans Day ceremony set at Camp Joy

A Veterans Memorial
dedication ceremony will be held at Camp Joy on Lake Bistineau Friday, May 18,
at 10 a.m. as the nation celebrates Armed Forces Day to thank those who serve
in the military.

The special memorial
honoring all branches of military service was designed and erected by Kate
Davis, owner of Camp Joy, as a way to express her appreciation for the
sacrifices of the men and women of the armed forces.

“Freedom and liberty are
very important for me,” said Kate. “This is something I’ve always wanted
to do, something for the men and women in uniform. But I didn’t know
what.”

Norman Craig, Marine
Corps veteran who served from 1957 – 1961, will be the guest
speaker. He attained the rank of corporal, and just before he
completed his service in the Marine Corps, he married Suzanne in 1960. They
currently live in the Haughton area. Craig taught school for a few years
and was a businessman for many others.

In 2007, he sold his
business in Haughton and came to work for the Bossier Sheriff’s Office, where
he served primarily as the commander of the Bossier Sheriff’s Young Marines and
a School Resource Officer. Craig was selected recently by the
Bossier Parish Police Jury to fill the District 4 seat left vacant after Police
Juror Sonny Cook resigned.

The Parkway High School
band led by Director Mark Minton will play patriotic music at the ceremony, and
the Haughton High School AFJROTC will perform as color guard.
Meredith Johnson of Bossier City will sing the National Anthem.

Veterans from World War
II until today will be special guests, and every veteran will receive a special
token thanking them for their service. It’s Kate’s way of saying “Thank you.”

In March 2017, Kate
erected the memorial that features a soldier on patrol duty carrying a
rifle. The soldier is surrounded by five special stones, depicting each
branch of military service.

These special stones
were painted by a Camp Joy resident whose son has been deployed seven times to
Iraq and Afghanistan. They were her gift to the memorial. There are also
seven flag poles with the different service flags, U.S. flag, and POW flag.

But the project didn’t
come easy, recalls Kate. A few years ago, Kate had two back surgeries,
and then the historic flood at Lake Bistineau in 2016. She says she lost
everything. “I had to redo everything from ground zero.” She said
this was the right time for the memorial.

“By the grace of God, it
took a beautiful shape, and I’m just so thrilled that I could do
something. People are forgetting about the veterans, and they don’t
really know who protects our liberty and freedom.”

“This was a project of
love,” said Kate, who is originally from India. “My hope is that we will
never forget about our veterans, and we thank them from the bottom of our
hearts for what they have done for our country. We are the greatest
nation because of their sacrifices.”

(Above: Kate Davis. Below: The official flyer for dedication ceremony.)